Digital Nepal Conclave 2023 concluded

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said the government has been making preparation to bring laws related to information technology into implementation after passing them by the parliament.

Addressing ‘Huawei MNC Digital Nepal Conclave 2023’ organised by ICT Foundation Nepal and Huawei here the other day, Prime Minister Dahal shared that the government’s attention has been focused to pass the acts and laws related to information technology, including the cyber security policy” he said on the occasion.

Emphasizing on the need of making public service delivery effective, easy, and smooth by making information and communication technology accessible to the people, PM Dahal added. He added that information and communication technology has high importance in the goals set by the government to achieve prosperity through social justice and good governance by building a self-reliant economy.

Stating that the government has stressed on development of infrastructures required for Digital Nepal, he mentioned necessary initiatives have been taken to uplift the lifestyle of the people of remote areas. “Government’s aim is to reduce the digital divide and to stress on the digital economy”, he viewed, adding the country has not been able to make development as per the expectation due to Nepal’s geographical condition, lack of resources and capabilities, and skilled human resources and some policy-level complexities.

“Though our expectation and thinking are as fast as ‘artificial intelligence’, resources, structures, and working style are not according to it. It is necessary to make the country developed towards digital capability by paying special attention towards it,” PM Dahal added.

The government in the budget has made arrangements of using technology invented at home though it is 20 percent expensive, the Prime Minister said, adding he was aware of the brain drain of human resources of the ICT sector in the lack of jobs and opportunities in the country. One percent budget of the total budget for the coming fiscal year has been allocated for the startup and innovation sector, he mentioned.

According to PM Dahal, the unprecedented development in the field of ICT had influenced all sides of society at present, the PM viewed that information technology had determined our behaviour, social ties, production system, knowledge, and political intelligence and had and controlled them in some sense.

Therefore, the PM said that the right usage of ICT was important to attain the goals of development and prosperity, good governance and social justice, and social transformation. Underscoring innovation, development, and right usage of the ICT, the Head of the Government said, “Acknowledging this fact deeply, the government has emphasized the implementation of the concept of Digital Nepal. To make the public service delivery prompt and swift and to provide hassle-free services to the public, he also shared that he took the lead to digitize essential services like the printing of passports, issuance of national identity cards and other documents as he assumed the leadership of the government.

“The incumbent government’s efforts are centred on the further developing relationship between government and public and ensuring transparency in public service delivery as well as to ensure everyone’s access to public services,” PM Dahal further mentioned. Stating that digital technology was important for achieving transparency, accountability, and good governance, he spoke of the need to systematically optimize information technology to make the government’s role more effective in accordance with the public’s expectations in the sector such as education, health, employment, and social awareness. Digital Nepal Conclave is an open platform for facilitating the effective dialogue to implement Digital Nepal Framework. It features keynotes from various renowned national and international experts and domain champions. It also highlights the issues of digital capability through various power panel Samvad sessions, lightning talks, thematic presentations, feedback, and opinions from the domain champions and the audience. Huawei MNC Digital Nepal Conclave 2023 was organized to support initiatives envisioned by the Digital Nepal Framework 2019. This year, our primary focus is on underlining the Digital Capabilities for Digital Nepal. The event will feature high-level deliberations along with policy-level discussions among senior government officials, sectoral experts, and relevant stakeholders from within and outside the country. Participants in the two-day conference include ICT experts from South Korea, Japan, Singapore, India, and Bangladesh among others. Prior to this, such event ‘Digital Dialogue had earlier been organised in all other six provinces, it was shared. The ‘Digital Nepal Conclave’ is a comprehensive conference launched by the foundation last year to support the campaign for Digital Nepal. In the conclave, experts from Nepal, India, Bangladesh, South Korea, Singapore, America and other countries were present for presentation. Stakeholders, policy makers, digital industry leaders were present at the conclave, which will be organized as part of the digital transformation effort. As a pre-event to the conclave, the foundation organised a digital Provincial Dialogue event in all seven provinces.